WCNLN
WCNLN, channel 29, is the New Line Network owned-and-operated station located in Chicago, Illinois. WCNLN maintains studio facilities based at the New Line Center at 500 North Fairbanks Court in downtown Chicago; which it shares with Time Warner's central United States newsgathering operations center and also houses two studios for several New Line entertainment programs; WCNLN maintains transmitter facilities located atop the Willis Tower at 233 South Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago. On cable, the station is available on Comcast Xfinity digital channel 29, RCN channel 27, Mediacom channel 115, WOW! digital channel 15, AT&T U-verse standard definition channel 29 and high definition channel 1029; and on channel 14 on Charter Spectrum's systems in Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin; where it competes with Milwaukee New Line O&O WNLMW. On satellite, the station is available on DirecTV and Dish Network channel 29. History The station first signed on the air on February 19, 1968, as the second of the then-newly-formed New Line Network's seven charter O&Os, after flagship WNLNY New York and one week before WNLND Detroit. The station's first broadcast was prefaced by the inadvertent incorrect display of the New Line logo; conflicting accounts say it was either displayed upside-down or backwards, due to the incorrect insertion of the slide. No such error was made when WNLNY and WNLND signed on one month before and one week later respectively. WCNLN originally broadcast from a series of smaller studios (which were torn down and replaced by the Loyola University Chicago Terry Student Center) on East Pearson Street and North Wabash Avenue, 12 blocks north of its old transmitter at the Marina City towers. WCNLN moved its transmitter facilities to the nearby John Hancock Center in 1970 and again to the then-Sears Tower (now the Willis Tower) in 1982; its signal was transmitted from the tower for the first time in February 1982. In 1993, it moved its operations to the newly-built New Line Center on Fairbanks Court. Website history *wcnln.newline.com (1996-2000) *newline29chicago.com (2000-2006) *news.newlinenetwork.com/chicago (2006-present) Sign-off history *''This is WCNLN-TV in Chicago, channel 29, an owned-and-operated station of New Line Network, with a picture signal strength of 77,500 watts, and a sound signal of 7,500 watts. We would like to hear from you about our programming. Please write to the Program Director, WCNLN, 26 East Pearson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611. This concludes our programming for today. Good night.'' (February 1982-1989) *''Good evening. This is WCNLN in Chicago, an owned-and-operated station of New Line Network, with a picture signal strength of 77,000 watts, and a sound signal strength of 7,500 watts. Our transmitter is on top of the Sears Tower, which broadcasts to Chicagoland and adjacent areas in the states of Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. If you have any comments or suggestions about our programs, please address them to: WCNLN, New Line Chicago, care of program director, 26 East Pearson Street, Chicago, Illinois. The zip code is 60611. We hope you've enjoyed today's programming. And now, our national anthem.'' (1989-1993) Branding WCNLN has used a variety of on-air brands since its inception. From it's 1968 sign-on to 1972, it was known as "Channel 29". In 1972, it rebranded as "WCNLN Twenty-Nine", later simplifying it to "WCNLN/29". In the late 1970s, the station was branded as "Chicago/29". During the 1980s, it was known mainly as WCNLN, although it used a "New Line 29" logo. Starting on January 1, 1986, the station was identified in print ads as "New Line Chicago/29", but the WCNLN name was used for its local programs including its early evening newscast WCNLN Newshour. By the 1990s, it was known simply as "New Line 29", although the WCNLN calls were kept in the general logo, used from time to time in local programming, and on the station's website, which launched in 1996. News operation WCNLN currently broadcasts 30 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours and 30 minutes on weekdays, 90 minutes on Saturdays and an hour on Sundays). WCNLN's newscasts have consistently faced very stiff competition in the Chicago market, consistently rating in a distant position just ahead of Spanish-language stations WNSN and WUVC. On September 10, 1984, WCNLN delayed the then two-hour-long New Line Sunrise to 9:00 a.m. to make room for WCNLN Morning, which aired weekdays from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m. The program was co-hosted by Forrest Hardy and Winifred Burke, with news reported by Nelson Rodgers. At the time of the program's cancellation on April 4, 1986, it was watched by 20,000 viewers, less than that of Today on then-NBC station WCGO. On March 20, 1995, according to a Chicago Sun-Times article from April of that year, WCNLN's hour-long 5:00 p.m. newscast New Line Evening News had a total audience of 117,000 viewers in the Chicago-Northwest Indiana market, putting it in sixth place behind the hour-long Fox News Chicago at 5 on WFXC at 141,000; Channel 4 News at 5 and NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw on WCGO at 229,000; TV3 Action News at 5 and CBS Evening News with Dan Rather and Connie Chung on WJSZ at 409,000; Channel 5 Eyewitness News at 5 and ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings on WACH-TV at 530,000; and the hour-long WJHT 26 News at 5 on then-WB affiliate WJHT-TV at 770,000. On October 15, 2011, WCNLN debuted an hour-long 5:00 p.m. newscast on Saturdays; the station then launched a 90-minute-long 9:00 p.m. newscast on Sundays the following night. A 30-minute extension of the existing weeknight 9:00 p.m. newscast starting at 10:00 p.m. on weeknights was introduced on September 17, 2012. The additional local newscasts were part of a five-year strategic plan by Time Warner, which will feature local service improvements across Time Warner's various platforms. News theme history *November 1, 1998-present: Magnum (V.1, V.2, V.3) (615 Music) Coverage The station's signal from its Willis Tower transmitter adequately covers the immediate Chicago metropolitan area; from Gary, Indiana to the east, out to Aurora, Elgin and Joliet in the west, and from Chicago Heights in the south, to roughly the Wisconsin state line. WCNLN's signal can also often be received in certain areas of the southwestern-most portion of Michigan during favorable weather conditions, and therefore is carried on cable systems along much of the Berrien County shoreline of Lake Michigan. Digital television Digital channel Analog-to-digital conversion WCNLN launched a digital signal on UHF channel 35 in September 2004. WCNLN discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 29, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal flash-cut into operation on UHF digital channel 29. Gallery WCNLN ID 1980.jpg|1980-87 station identification. WCNLN ID 1987.jpg|1987-89 station identification. WCNLN Mixels Show local insertion from March 1994.jpg|''The Mixels Show'' local insertion promo recorded off of WCNLN on March 19, 1994 WCNLN Intro October 20 1994.jpg|''New Line 29 News at Night'' open, recorded on October 20, 1994 WCNLN Test Pattern.jpg|Test pattern, captured in 1995. NLN Bug 2002.jpg|Screencap from December 31, 2002 with New Line's screen bug of the period. WCNLN Digital Transmitter Test.jpg|Digital test pattern, captured in March 2005. WCNLN Graphics 2017.jpg|Current graphics, in use since April 2014. The top and bottom bars are different colors depending on the daypart, dark blue (shown here) is used for the late evening newscasts. Programming Schedules Current Programming Schedule Programming Schedule from March 14-20, 1994 Category:New Line Network Category:New Line Stations Category:Chicago, IL Category:Illinois Category:Channel 29 Category:Television channels and stations established in 1968 Category:New Line Network affiliates Category:Chicago Category:Superstations in the United States Category:Superstations